


Bugs the Bunny

by blueboxesandtrafficcones



Category: Broadchurch
Genre: Dad!Hardy, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Miller calls him names, Parenting Advice, class pet, slight language?, supportive!Ellie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-16 08:10:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12338808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueboxesandtrafficcones/pseuds/blueboxesandtrafficcones
Summary: Hardy discovers Daisy has brought home the class pet - a bunny named Bugs.Needless to say, he's not happy.As always, Miller sets him right.





	Bugs the Bunny

Still yawning, Hardy walked into his kitchen.  He was halfway through filling the teapot when a noise behind him caught his attention.  He turned.  Stared.  Rubbed his face furiously, hoping it would wake him enough that the hallucination would pass.  It didn’t.

“DAISY!”  He bellowed.

There was a thump, followed by a vicious curse, which suggested his formerly beloved daughter had been startled awake and promptly fallen out of bed.  He couldn’t quite bring himself to care.

She practically hopped into the room, still pulling on her dressing gown.

“Dad, I can explain.”  She blurted, worried at the sheer horror on her father’s face as he stared, transfixed, at his table.

“Can you, now?”  His tone had gone dangerously Scottish, and she winced.

“Dad…”

“What is this thing?”  If he wasn’t so angry, the disgust on his face would have had her in stitches from laughing so hard.

Even so, she could barely contain her giggles.  “Well, Dad, it’s a rabbit.”

“I can see _that_.”  He finally turned that intense stare on her, and she had a moment of pity for any criminal that faced him in interview.  “Why is it in my house, never mind on my kitchen table?”

“It’s our class pet.”  Daisy explained.  “My biology class, at the start of term we all voted on a class pet, and a bunny won.  Everyone takes a turn watching him, and this weekend it’s mine.”

“Right.  What’s it’s name?”

“Bugs.”

“Bugs?”  Hardy stared at his daughter as though he’d never seen her before.

“Yeah, as in Bugs Bunny.”  Daisy rolled her eyes at him.  “You have heard of Bugs Bunny, right?”

“Of course I have.”  Irritated, he turned back to the matter, or more specifically, bunny, at hand.  “What do we do with it?”

Deciding it was safe enough, the girl picked up the rabbit, cuddling him close and cooing down at him.  “Basically, I make sure he lives through the weekend.  Feed him, give him water, play with him.  I’m eighteen Dad, I can take care of him.  There’s no obligation on you, other than maybe buying some extra carrots and lettuce.”

“But, you didn’t say anything.”  He reminded her, softening a bit at the image in front of him.  Daisy had always wanted a pet, but with their work schedules he and Tess had never allowed her to have one, knowing the responsibility would fall to them.  He was happy that his daughter was fulfilling that dream, but did the thing have to be free in his house?

Daisy shrugged, focusing on the bunny in her arms as she mumbled, “You haven’t noticed before.”

He frowned, not sure he heard her right.  “He’s been here before?”

“Three times.”  Daisy confirmed.

Sighing, he surrendered, knowing with that he didn’t have a leg to stand on.

“Fine.  What does the wee beastie want for breakfast?”

-

An hour later, he was still feeling annoyed and guilty over the incident with the rabbit as he settled behind his desk.  He hadn’t been there ten minutes when Miller of all people poked her head in.

“Sir?  It’s a Saturday, and there’s nothing active.  What are you doing here?”

“Working, Miller, what do you think.  Very important work.”  He glared at his screen, hoping she’d go away.

“Are you playing pinball?”  She asked incredulously.  He went to deny it, but then realized there were few possibilities for how his hands were positioned on the keyboard.

“Maybe.  What are _you_ doing here?”  He quickly deflected back at her, spinning his chair to face her.

“I left something in my desk.  What’s going on?”  She walked in without being invited, perching herself on the edge of his couch.  Letting out a deep sigh, he slumped in his chair.

“Daisy brought home the class pet for the weekend.” 

Astonishingly, Miller brightened considerably.

“Oh, I didn’t know it was Daisy’s week with Bugs!  I’ll have to bring Freddy by, he loves the little fluffball.”

“You know about this thing?”  He demanded, sitting up straight as she blinked at him.

“Course, Chloe’s in the same class, Beth’s told me about it.”  Then comprehension dawned.  “But you didn’t.”

“No.”  He looked more miserable than usual.

“You didn’t know, and you think you should have, so you’re hiding here from a teenage girl and her rabbit.”  Her succinct parsing of the issue left him even more downtrodden.

“Three times, she’s had the bloody thing at our house.  This is the fourth, and I’m only noticing now.”

Miller hummed in sympathy. “Maybe you really are the worst cop in Britain.”

He glared at her.  “Weren’t you leaving?”

She stood, rolling her eyes at him.  “Fine.  Just, consider this – maybe instead of sulking here like the knob we both know you are, maybe you should try spending time with your daughter and asking her about the bloody rabbit?”  She gave him a sharp nod, before heading out the door.

“See you Monday!”  She called over her shoulder without looking back.

He didn’t respond, turning back to his pinball game, just to lose within ten seconds.  With a groan, he shut the system down and headed home to face the music.

-

“Daisy?”  He called for his daughter as he walked through the door.

“Bathroom.”  She called back.  He headed towards there, seeing the door open with her kneeling beside the tub.

“What are you doing?”  He leaned against the frame, just watching her.

“Giving Bugs a bath.”  She carefully held the rabbit over the tub with one hand, rubbing rabbit-safe shampoo into his fur with the other.

“Do you want any help?”

Surprised at the offer, she almost dropped the rabbit.  Looking up at him for a moment as if to judge his sincerity, she nodded slowly.  “Can you hold him while I scrub?”

Shedding his jacket and tie and rolling up his shirt sleeves, he knelt beside his daughter and gingerly took the rabbit, holding it firmly round the middle.

“Tell me about it?”  He asked.

She spent a few moments concentrating on rubbing in the shampoo.  “Like I said, at the start of term our biology class was told we could have a pet.  There were a couple of options, but most people voted for the bunny.  Then everyone submitted a name suggestion, and it was pulled out of a hat.  Bugs Bunny was the most common vote, so…”

“What did you vote for?”  He asked, curious.

“The bunny.  The other options were fish, snake, hamster, or frog.  I wanted to name her Judy, but we ended up getting a boy.”

“Judy?”  Hardy asked in surprise.  “What, after that zoo movie?”

Daisy laughed.  “Been watching movies with Fred again?”

Hardy shrugged, embarrassed.

“Yeah, after her.  But Bugs is a good name too.”

They lapsed into silence, not speaking again until after they had dried the bunny and cleaned the bathroom of the evidence.

“Daisy?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

“You know I love you, don’t you?  That you’re the most important person to me?”  He couldn’t quite bring himself to make eye contact, still rubbing the towel over the now-dry bunny.

“Yeah, Dad.  I know.”

“And that, you can always come to me?  And tell me things?  I try and ask about your day, and school, but… usually you don’t say much.”

She watched him quietly.  “I suppose, there isn’t usually anything I think you’d find interesting.”

He looked up at her sharply.  “Daisy, I find _you_ interesting, darling.  Do you have any idea how many hours I’ve spent just watching you sleep, or play, or just lay quietly?  The subject doesn’t matter, because you do.”

Unexpected tears welled in her eyes.  “Really?”

“Of course.  I can’t promise to be thrilled by every subject, but I’ll always listen, and I’ll always care, if it matters to you.”  He told her firmly, heartbroken that she seemed to doubt that.

She sniffled, before nodding twice.  “I love you, Dad.”

“I love you too, Daisy, more than you can ever know.”  His throat closed up, but it didn’t matter because his little girl threw herself into his arms.

As he cradled her close like he had when she was a small child, he promised himself to dig deeper, and not let her get away with non-answers.

Even if that meant getting the scoop from Miller.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Do Foxes Like Pizza?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15526044) by [BonsaiBovine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BonsaiBovine/pseuds/BonsaiBovine)




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